


Paper Trail

by Sapphirite



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Coming Out, Homophobia, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Rating May Change, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 20:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20712044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphirite/pseuds/Sapphirite
Summary: Finnigan Wright moves into Stardew Valley in order to find his footing again. A young man becomes an unexpected comfort, but he has issues of his own that has the townspeople wary. The two share some eye opening moments— shards of time that may cut through and remake the dynamic in the village for good, or reduce it to an even worse state than before.





	Paper Trail

Finnigan Wright was a man with many titles, and might just be in possession of his most modest one: "The new farmer".

Not just _ a _ farmer, no. He'd come to a little town and for that sole reason he was _ the _ farmer, and in all honesty he was surprised they needed to add _ new _ to it as well. Maybe it was a customary thing, but it felt overwhelmingly specific. As if there could be no doubt who one was talking about when the words the, new, and farmer got strung together like a precious pearl necklace. It was very different from his other titles, and sometimes he found himself watching it, peering through the looking glass and into the safe container below, trying to make it out. However, it wasn't a title that put him above anyone else, made him any different from the rest: and that made it all the more precious to him. Because while his title was _ specific _ it left room for things his previous ones never had. He could, in theory, become anything, as daft as it sounded. But there was room to breathe, and he relished in the vast field of available opportunity. There was no one to be the boss of other than himself, and it felt liberating.

Finnegan had found himself as one of those people who would be most at ease when there wasn't a lot of expectations. High ones, that is. Low expectations were always easier to beat, and so they felt safe. Like that time when he found the pair of Maru and Penny sitting by the benches right by the Stardrop Saloon: the sun shining down his neck and his arms aching from working the soil all morning, the dark haired girl turned to him and smiled.

"Farm work must be pretty easy, huh?"

It felt easy to put a hand on his hip and tilt his face slightly, his eyes hooded but sharp as he said, "As long as you have the body for it, the pain isn't that bad. From tending to the fields I mean." Maru's smile turn into a frown, and Penny reached out a hand to place on her shoulder, green eyes flickering between the two of them "—she didn't," the brunette began, but Finnegan shook his head, "No. The making of your robots require _ brainpower _ , and the making of my crops need _ manpower _ . There's no need for this _ easy _talk, though. We both work just as hard," he said and looked at her pointedly before turning on his heel and striding back. 

Finnigan had always liked being right. Perhaps even more than being free of expectations. If you were right, people couldn't walk all over you. Once when he was a novice working over at Zuzu City, just another "grunt", it was the only weapon he had: to put the ones who baited him in their place with a few well chosen words. They got even more cross, but what made their faces turn sour made him get a promotion. One thing led to another, and before he knew it he'd become the chief executive of his department. "_ You've done well for yourself, _" the others told him. "Thank you," was the standard reply, but it weighed heavier on his chest each time. With each step he had advanced, he lost kinship with people until all he saw was a room full of strangers. Somewhere between the night spent dozing off between piles of documents and the days running back and forth between meetings, he opened the letter from Grandpa. It gave him a way out, and he grasped at it desperately— stumbling straight into the wonders of a young man in Stardew Valley.

**Author's Note:**

> TBC


End file.
